Wilko Johnson launches smokin' Marijuana video

Get a taste of Wilko Johnson's first album of original solo material 30 years

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(Image credit: Lawrence Watson)

Wilko Johnson - Blow Your Mind

01. Beauty02. Blow Your Mind03. Marijuana04. Tell Me One More Thing05. That's The Way I Love You06. Low Down07. Take It Easy08. I Love The Way You Do09. It Don't Have To Give You The Blues10. Lament11. Say Goodbye12. Slamming

Wilko Johnson has released a video for Marijuana. It's taken from Blow Your Mind, Johnson's first album of new material in 30 years. The album is released on June 15.

"It’s tricky when you get to seventy years old, because what am I supposed to be singing? 'I love you, baby, but you done me wrong?” Come on!," says Wilko. "That’s kind of a problem. But I never thought that I’d be the sort of person to write songs about different sorts of real-life experiences until I got sick”.

Joining Wilko on the album are legendary Blockheads bassist Norman Watt Roy and drummer Dylan Howe. The album was produced by Dave Eringa, who worked with the band on the gold-selling album Going Back Home with Roger Daltrey.

“I never expected to be making another Wilko Johnson album after Going Back Home," says Eringa. "But what a pleasure and a privilege it was to be able to capture Wilko's first new songs for 30 years! He is one of music's true gentleman - literate, intelligent, and articulate... but still rock'n'roll as fuck!”

The album deals with the trials and tribulations Johnson has faced over the last five years, with songs such as Marijuana and Take It Easy dealing very directly with the terminal diagnosis he was given in early 2013.

"I didn’t really intend to ever use them [the songs] and, obviously, I didn’t know if I’d ever get back into the studio," says Wilko. "One of those songs, that’s a reflection of that time, is about sitting around the house at night knowing that death’s coming; we’ve recorded it, and it’ll be on the album. It’s actually quite a cheerful one, too! Man, there’s nothing like being told you’re dying to make you feel alive.”